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Table of Contents

Patch 2.4 marks the return of Raiment of the Jade Harvester as one of the top tier
Witch Doctor playstyles. This bursty, melee range spellcaster playstyle is available in
both solo progression and speedfarming variations, explained in that order.

1. About the Author

This build is presented to you by Deadset,
one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players.
Deadset regularly publishes video guides on
Youtube, where you can
see how this and other builds play out in practice.

3. Rotation

The combat strategy of the Jade Witch Doctor opens battles by casting Piranhado to clump your enemies
and apply the Piranhas debuff, amplifying the damage of the skills to follow. Cast a single Locust Swarm,
and as it spreads start applying Haunt on the enemy until all combatants are affected. Then dive into the
fray with Spirit Walk and activate a devastating Soul Harvest, consuming the active DoTs. Getting used
to the short 16-yard range of Soul Harvest and timing it with a proc of Convention of Elements is a skill
acquired over time, but once you do, it will be to a devastating result. In Greater Rifts the enemies grow exceptionally
tough, so protecting yourself with Horrify will also become part of the rotation. Always keep in mind that
Soul Harvest does not consume the entire length of the DoT, but a 300 seconds worth of it per cast. It will take you
multiple Soul Harvests to fully deplete the DoTs, so manage your Mana and focus on Haunting the enemy, rather
than spamming Locust Swarms.

4. Skills, Runes and Passives

Soul Harvest is the primary damage dealer of the build. While a utility skill by default, it takes on the role
of a nuke with the 6-piece bonus of the Jade set, which allows you to consume the active DoTs on the enemies at once when
you use Soul Harvest. Due to the 4-piece bonus of the Jade Harvester set, you will be receiving the benefits of all
runes at once, so you can base your pick according to your Haunt element of choice: Languish if you go
Cold with Resentful Spirits, or Swallow Your Soul if you go Poison with Poisoned Spirit. Whichever you
pick, you will still receive the Mana from Swallow Your Soul, the life from Siphon, the armor from
Languish, the movement speed from Soul to Waste, and some additional damage from Vengeful Spirit. While
Soul Harvest will be frequently reset from the 4-piece bonus as you spam Haunt and Locust Swarm, it is
important to get at least one cast off during the appropriate elemental rotation of your Convention of Elements.

There are two major DoTs to be consumed, out of four in total.

Haunt is the strongest one, with an impressive 4000% weapon damage. Cheap with its 50 Mana cost, lengthened by the
Creeping Death passive and consuming 60 seconds worth of the DoT at once with the Jade 2-piece set bonus, it is an
obvious fit for the playstyle. Depending on your preferences, you can go for a Cold or Poison variation of the build. The Cold
rune Resentful Spirits spreads the DoT twice as effectively, and is a great soloing choice due to its better Mana
management; it is also highly recommended for speedfarming. The Poison rune Poisoned Spirit adds a 20% additive damage bonus
against affected enemies, applied to the entire party, making it a better grouping choice. Note that the remainder of the guide
assumes you take Resentful Spirits, so adjust elemental damage rolls to Poison if you plan on using Poisoned Spirit.
Regardless of your choice, constant Haunt spam will be required to reset Soul Harvest.

Second in the DoT hierarchy is Locust Swarm, with respectable 1040% weapon damage and quick, efficient spread through
the Pestilence rune. There is a notable itemization choice here, depending on your desire for more Damage or more
Toughness. To increase your damage, pick the Pestilence rune on your bar so you can run The Furnace in the Cube.
For better Toughness, get Pestilence for free by equipping or cubing the Vile Hive mojo, an pick up the
Cloud of Insects rune for the 25% Damage Reduction. Last but not least, consider swapping this skill out entirely in speedruns
for Summon Zombie Dogs. You will still attain Locust Swarm by cubing Wormwood and receive a free
Pestilence rune by wearing Vile Hive. Having Summon Zombie Dogs at your disposal in speedruns opens up
the movespeed bonuses of the Fierce Loyalty passive, as well as healing benefits from the rune Leeching Beasts.

While it applies a minor DoT of its own and can be considered part of the Jade consumption, Piranhas is mostly used
as an opener in fights for the Piranhado crowd control and the innate damage increase against affected enemies.

To position for Soul Harvest, keep himself safe and for general mobility purposes, the Jade Witch Doctor uses
Spirit Walk. A versatile tool on a low cooldown, Spirit Walk makes you invulnerable, allows you to walk through
enemies, and speeds you up for a generous 3-second period with the Jaunt rune. If you value mobility over a lengthier
invulnerability window, you can freely alternate into the Severance rune — especially preferred in speedruns.

Completing the build with defensive utility, the Horrify crowd control helps when the tough enemies of Greater Rift
progression survive your Soul Harvest rotation and swarm you, thirsting for vengeance. The recommended choice for GR
progression is the Toughness-oriented Frightening Aspect, buffed to the impressive 50% additional armor for 8 seconds. When
speedfarming, you should alternate into the Stalker rune for the additional movement speed.

This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.

The pivotal passive of the Jade build is Creeping Death, which extends the duration of Haunt,
Locust Swarm and the damage amplification of Piranhas from several seconds to an hour. The Quetzalcoatl
helm shortens that duration to 30 minutes, effectively doubling the damage of your DoT skills upon the Soul Harvest
consumption. Notice that the 6-piece Jade set bonus consumes 150 seconds worth of DoT damage. Because of that, speeding
up the damage dealt by using a Quetzalcoatl helm is critical for the build.

Grave Injustice is an elegant source of Cooldown Reduction, synergizing with the bursty nature of the Jade Harvester
playstyle. For each enemy killed in a 20-yard radius of the Witch Doctor, it not only reduces your cooldowns by a second, but
also replenishes your health and Mana reserves by 1%. Take notice of the pickup radius synergy and try to obtain that stat in
the secondaries of your gear.

Spirit Vessel is a standard cheat death passive, saving you from a lethal situation once every minute and applying a
Spirit Walk-like invulnerability state for 2 seconds, coupled with a 50% life refill. When speedfarming, consider replacing
this passive for the movement speed increase of Fierce Loyalty — it will be procced by your skill swap into
Summon Zombie Dogs.

A logical final addition to the build, Confidence Ritual increases your damage by 25% against enemies within 20 yards.
This relatively matches the fighting range of the build with Soul Harvest in mind, so you will get great uptime on this
passive. During speedruns you can change this slot to Gruesome Feast, as it undeniably offers the strongest damage increase
among its peers, provided you can keep it stacked with health globes — an easy task when farming.

5. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Raiment of the Jade Harvester set, taking all six available pieces and opening up the
jewelry for the Endless Walk set and its damage multiplication bonuses. Crit Chance is necessary along with Intelligence and
Vitality on Jade Harvester's Wisdom. Cooldown reduction is important for the Jade Witch Doctor, and it is advisable to
get it on the Jade Harvester's Mercy, where it accompanies the Crit stats, as well as on the Jade Harvester's Joy.
The latter will also provide you with skill damage, as Haunt % can be rolled on both the Jade Harvester's Joy and the
Jade Harvester's Peace. Jade Harvester's Courage and Jade Harvester's Swiftness remain pure toughness slots,
prioritizing high Vitality and Armor. Note that stacking Armor benefits you because of the balancing of sources of mitigation,
as All Resistance is already abundant on an Intelligence-based character.

Not skipping on any of the six available set pieces to obtain the full Jade Harvester set bonus allows you to split between
offense and defense in the jewelry slots. One of the 2.4 reworks, the Endless Walk set — The Compass Rose ring and
The Traveler's Pledge amulet — adds a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a 100% if you remain
stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage reduction while moving. This mirrors the Jade Harvester playstyle, which
goes from extended periods of drawing agro with Haunt spam into a more static Soul Harvest, Piranhado and
Horrify rotation. The Ring of Emptiness will occupy your second ring slot; this legendary jewelry piece dramatically
increases your damage against enemies affected by both Haunt and Locust Swarm, matching the natural rotation of the
build.

The general recommendation for the belt slot is the Haunting Girdle, releasing an extra Spirit when you cast Haunt for
added burst. While Jade Harvester is far from a pet build, the Belt of Transcendence is another viable belt due to its amazing unique
bonus — basically, a better Fetish Sycophants passive at the cost of a gear slot. With its guaranteed trigger, this belt
will quickly take you to the cap of 15 fetishes that act as a solid meat shield and distraction for your enemies. When doing Torments, you can
swap this slot out for Goldwrap, which paired with a cubed Avarice Band and gemmed Boon of the Hoarder will render you
practically invulnerable.

Introduced in Patch 2.4, Lakumba's Ornament is a targeted bracer for Jade Harvester Witch Doctors. Synergizing with the
bonuses of the Sacred Harvester (discussed below), this bracer will cut incoming damage roughly in half, significantly
improving the survival chances of this melee spellcaster build. If you are confident in your survivability during farming,
you can safely swap this item out for Nemesis Bracers — they will speed up your clears with additional elites.

The appropriately named Sacred Harvester is the best-in-slot weapon for a Jade Witch Doctor in Greater Rifts, as its unique bonus
extends the number of Soul Harvest stacks from 5 to 10. Considering that the build benefits from all Soul Harvest runes, the Damage,
Toughness and Utility bonuses gained from this Ceremonial Knife are second to none when it comes to progression content. In speedruns however,
In-geom becomes preferable as it allows you to chain cast Spirit Walk from elite to elite, clearing the rift lightning-fast.

There is some wiggle room in the offhand slot, depending on your needs for better survival or damage. The standard choice is
equipping Henri's Perquisition, offering a significant source of upfront damage reduction and crowd control. Note that if
you choose the survivability route in gearing, this slot is interchangeable with a Vile Hive, depending on your better item
roll. In the stats, look for high damage range, Intelligence, Vitality, Crit Chance, and increased Haunt %.

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation.
The gem procs itself with its level 25 property, and is otherwise triggered by Haunt and Languish.

Esoteric Alteration is the strongest mitigation gem available, and its impact is noticeable in this close range caster
build. Improving your elemental resistances with every gem level and adding an emergency toughness spike through the level 25
property, Esoteric Alteration ensures that enemies will have a hard time bursting you down. In Torment runs, this slot is best
taken by Boon of the Hoarder, whose interaction with the cubed Avarice Band and worn Goldwrap will keep you rich,
safe and sped up throughout the run.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket. Building up your damage
multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to
assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single target, high HP enemies. Jade Harvester Witch Doctors are no exception. In lower
Greater Rifts or during farming, you can easily swap this gem out for the well-rounded damage and toughness increase of
Bane of the Powerful.

To improve your damage, the best choice for the weapon slot in the Cube is The Furnace, the strongest generic
two-handed weapon in the game. With its 50% additional elite damage affix it speeds up clear times greatly, as Champion
and Rift Guardian fights are the usual GR bottleneck. Alternatively, you can cube a Vile Hive mojo to get a free
Pestilence rune, allowing you to run the Toughness-oriented Cloud of Insects rune on your bar. The final,
farming-oriented option is to run Wormwood — it casts free Locust Swarms on a regular basis and allows you
to focus on Haunting and pure speed.

Tucked away in the armor slot of the Cube, the Quetzalcoatl voodoo mask is a key piece that doubles the pace of
your Haunt and Locust Swarm DoTs, ties into the Creeping Death passive bonus and produces the signature
Jade burst.

In GRs, the jewelry slot will be best taken by the pure damage boost of Convention of Elements, whose rotation of
elemental bonuses you will have to keep under close scrutiny to take advantage of the short-lived Cold proc. Alternatively,
you can use Unity for its 50% damage reduction when paired with another on the follower, plus an immortality item
for him (i.e. Enchanting Favor) — a great choice for hardcore, or when lacking in toughness. When speedfarming,
use the Act III cache legendary ring Avarice Band. Its unique property extends your pickup radius up to the massive 30
yards for a generous 10-second period. Triggered, maximized and constantly refreshed from the endless stream of
Boon of the Hoarder gold, the ring and the gem will keep you sped up and invulnerable from the worn Goldwrap.

9. Follower

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our
Follower Guide, which contains detailed
advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

10. ChangeLog

21 Oct. 2016: No changes needed for Season 8.

29 Jul. 2016: Revised the guide to include speedfarming information.

05 May 2016: Minor revision to the build for Patch 2.4.1.

13 Jan. 2016: Updated the guide to reflect its Patch 2.4 buffs, the introduction of several synergistic items, and Kanai's Cube swaps.

24 Aug. 2015: Added Kanai's Cube recommendations for Patch 2.3 and moved the guide to T10 farming / Speedfarming as it is no longer competitive enough for end-game content.